Yard work...

[lloyd378]

No time at all, really: I just blew off the driveway, and that was it. A few of my maples have just started to drop, but most of the leaves are still on the trees. That's likely to change over the next week or so, especially with all the rain.

Amazing they have stayed on still! Almost all of mine fell last week with the winds and the downpours.

 

[DMD123]

My maple in the front yard still has all its leaves, but I think a ton will be dropping with the rains. Most of my other tress still have leaves except the coral bark I planted this year.

 

[lloyd378]

My front yard…

 

[sir_keith]

Speaking of leaves... We did the second and final leaf cleanup today-



Neat and tidy, waiting for Spring-



Winter camellias in bloom, one of the few natural sources of fuel for the hummingbirds that overwinter here-

 

[DMD123]

Well the winds had some fun at my house last night. A shared section of fence came down

Looks like one rotten post and there were no fence clips used so a pretty clean fall

The contractor who did our fence is supposed to come over to access the damage and bid for repairs. I would love to replace the entire fence and stain it to match our other side but likely just a repair...

 

[sir_keith]

As they say, one rotten post... or was it apple?

I had a whole section of fence blow down at my home on Mercer Island during the Hanukkah Eve storm in 2006, the same storm that left most of the island (and my fish room!) without power for a week. My homeowners insurance paid for the whole thing and more, sight unseen, just from a description over the telephone. I guess they were busy around that time...

​

Then there was the Thanksgiving Day storm in 1990, which sunk the old I-90 floating bridge between the island and Seattle. The new bridge alongside it was closed for quite a while whilst they stabilized everything, so I couldn't get to work...

​

Anyway, if you play your cards right I'd think a whole new fence would be in order...

 

[DMD123]

Our contractor came out quickly and tacked up a temporary chain link fence so the neighbors dog would not get out and said he would be out tomorrow or Monday to cement in a new post.

 

[DMD123]

My fence is fixed! Looks like it never even happened. That side of the yard is just so blah looking, I wonder if I should put some large planters in or something along that side... I would like to create a cover of some sort to put the garbage cans behind.

 

[sir_keith]

I mowed my lawns yesterday for the first time in 2023. Usually that happens around Valentine's Day, but this year...

 

[lloyd378]

I mowed my lawns yesterday for the first time in 2023. Usually that happens around Valentine's Day, but this year...

Haven’t mowed mine yet! They haven’t even started growing yet.

 

[DMD123]

I’ve already mowed. Not that much growth but just wanted to have yard looking a bit nicer.

 

[sir_keith]

It's finally starting to look like Spring around here!

Semi-double Camellia in bloom-



Just back from swapping winter studs for summer tires-

 

[DMD123]

My brother in law, who owns a yard maintenance service is supposed to aerate my lawn this week. It will look pretty weird with all the plugs laying around. I still need to work on sprinkler heads also.

 

[DMD123]

Lawn was cut and edged yesterday and today it was aerated, moss treated and over seeded. Looks like turds everywhere.
Back yard starting to come in with flowers and leaves. Also full of turds, lol
Not the yard but was excited to add a new key-less deadbolt to the shed recently. I would go out and forget the keys all the time!

 

[sir_keith]

From beach to table...

First oyster harvest of 2023; these were seeded in 2021, so they're about a year-and-a-half old. Last year's seedlings are still quite small-



They're easy to open when this size; the large 4-5 year-olds require advanced methodology!



Liberty Bay was loaded with shellfish before Europeans arrived; only in the last 10-20 years have we cleaned up our mess sufficiently such that they are thriving again. Clams, mussels, and oysters are now abundant once more, and fresh oysters out of the Bay are to die for. 'New England' dinner-

 

[fishguy1978]

Not quite in the yard but their terrestrial

 

[DMD123]

Not quite in the yard but their terrestrial View attachment 12713

Very nice! Ive had 3 orchids at work that I acquired from others who gave up on them after the flowers fell off. I have them in a window and have had them flower multiple times now. I would love to incorporate them into the fishroom but just not enough light or warmth for them.

 

[DMD123]

After the grass was aerated it stirred up a mole in the back yard. Was able to get rid of him and get the mounds down flat. I need to rake out dead moss and I want to level out some areas and reseed. Lots of work still!

 

[lloyd378]

A coupe years back, I made the mistake of planting a St. John’s wort in my front garden… before I planted it, I have a nice patch of mottled deer tongue ( fawn) and trillium.

Every year I battle it, but this year, it took over everything. I am finding it to be a huge pain as the underground roots travel like running bamboo.

This morning I took out about 1/3 of it ( which filled my yard waste bin).

After this rain storm blows over, I’ll head back out to tackle some more.

Unfortunately, while pulling them out, I have trampled a bunch of the plants I want to keep. I know that they will come back next year, but I’m still a bit irritated by the whole ordeal.

This is the first year that the at John’s totally took over and I’m feeling like I need to eradicate it all to same me time in the future.

First pics are of my native species, the last couple are the aftermath of my trampling and beginning stages of removal.

 

[DMD123]

A year ago

Today

The Bloodgood maple has put on considerable size. The dead tree to the left was replaced with a yew that grew quite a bit in the last year.

Planted a few Japanese grasses last year, they came back and I love the multiple colors